Diving Silfra Iceland | JONATHAN BIRD'S BLUE WORLD

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In this exciting Blue World adventure, Jonathan travels up to Iceland in search of a dive site called Silfra which supposedly has the clearest water in the world! But it's cold!

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Temperate water is rarely very clear. We consider ourselves lucky to get 30 feet of visibility in New England. Sometimes it’s not even that good—more like 10 feet. You can barely see anything until you are right on top of it. Plankton makes this water extremely fertile, but you can’t see through it very well.

In the tropics, water has less plankton and it’s often quite a bit clearer. It’s not unusual to have 100 feet, sometimes even 150 feet of visibility in the tropics.

At the massive Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston—a huge indoor swimming pool where astronauts are trained—I have experienced visibility of at least 400 feet. The water is so clear, it’s like it’s not there at all. But this is a pool. The water is filtered and chlorinated. Is there anyplace in the world with naturally-occurring clarity like this?

Iceland is right smack-dab in the middle of the mid-Atlantic ridge, where two large tectonic plates meet. Lava coming out from between these plates at a hot spot created Iceland about 20 million years ago. But since those tectonic plates are still moving, Iceland has cracks down the middle and occasional earthquakes as a result.

Silfra is one of those cracks. It has filled with spring water that percolates up through the ground from distant glaciers. So it’s cold and it’s clear.

Iceland itself is a beautiful and sparsely populated country full of natural wonders.
It has huge glaciers. And those glaciers give birth to icebergs which float away into the North Atlantic ocean.

But even though it’s called Iceland, it’s not all ice by any means. At least in the summer.

There aren’t many trees, but the landscape features rolling green grassy hills. There are grazing sheep. And lots of farms.

Summer meltwater feeds scores of rivers and streams. Some are crystal clear, others are filled with minerals making them milky white.

And there are waterfalls. I mean a lot of awesome waterfalls! This is Gulfoss, one of Iceland’s largest.

Until recently, the only divers who came here were animals.

But Silfra has changed all that. Divers now come from around the world to experience the amazing visibility in this tiny dive site just a few meters wide and a few hundred meters long.

They say this is the clearest water in the world. Let’s go find out!

My adventure begins in downtown Reykjavic, Iceland’s capital city.

Diving here is not without difficulty. I’ll need a dry suit to stay warm in the water which is barely above freezing. Since most people don’t go to Iceland specifically to dive, they often don’t bring any gear. Dive Iceland supplies everything you need, even the dry suit. Our team has decided to try their gear, for the full experience. So we’re all getting into drysuits we’ve never worn before.

After we have our suits on, I have to carry my camera all the way from the parking area to the entry point.
Jose hands me my camera and I sink down into clear, cold water.

Under the surface, there is nothing to see but bare rock—and crystal clear water. My first view under the surface blows my mind—I can see all the way down to the end of the crack where it takes a turn! I have no idea how far that is.

Once everyone is ready, we submerge. Then Jose leads the way downstream. There’s a gentle current in Silfra from the spring opening all the way down to a lake.

The incredible visibility is no exaggeration! This is the clearest water I have ever seen in sunlight. The straight sections of Silfra aren’t even long enough to test the full visibility, but it’s easily many hundreds of feet.

We swim for a few minutes through a narrow crack, which is at least 50 feet deep. There’s nothing to see down there, so we stay pretty shallow where the marginal morning light is a little better.
In this shallow water, strands of green algae thrive on the ample summer sunlight.

After passing through the shallow section, we head into another deep crack. Now that the initial excitement has worn off, I’m noticing the water temperature, which is only 36° Fahrenheit, barely above freezing.

My face is completely numb. This water is nearly as cold as the water in Antarctica! It might look tropical because of that blue color seen in very clear water, but I’m definitely not in the Bahamas.
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this man is still replying and hearting comments four years later... legend

sam-bysq
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After all the years I could definitely say screw going big on TV. What you have done is so much better and you can say you truly did it on your own. So proud of you man, I was just thinking to myself why isn't this man on my TV yet, then I thought to myself it wouldn't be the same.

pilotboy
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Can we just talk about how good this man’s camera equipment is

gdslowingunicorn
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I see I’m 4 yrs late to this video. Stunning! 💞

trick
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It's hard to let people know how clear Silfra is. We had one guy bail out because he couldn't get a point of reference and he wasn't used to cold water diving.

Silfra is a must dive. Anyone thinking of diving it, make sure you can dive in cold water with a drysuit. It would be sad to lose a dive because of that.

Jonathan, I hope you got to dive the geothermal chimneys in Strytan. It has jets of warm water. It's also fun to see fish swimming vertically.

Great jobs on the videos. Lease keep them coming.

offthebeatenpathadventures
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I hope Jonathan and his team know how many people they inspire. Really great stuff.

eugenefrancisco
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Jonathan, thank for risking everything to get these beautiful videos..I salute you..!!

eldiablo
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i remember watching these when i was young and i was in my dads office at school, and i recently came across these again. so much nostalgia.

mari-ffgj
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Thank you for documenting your amazing adventures!

I don't know when I could do it myself

AfnanStudio_
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Yes, you found a place of water that was very clear and really peacefully serene. Even if there was very little fish or their creatures, it still worth the cold experience.
You have found maybe one of the last clean places of earths clean clear water.

Good thing you have such video evidence before others might ruin what’s left.
Thank god for you! Peace friend.

jonathansantos
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Great video! The best preview I could have for my upcoming dive in Silfra in 2 weeks 😉 Thanks!

spanishdiver
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Awesome and Amazing.So crystal clear of Silfra waterways in Iceland. Alhamdulillah.Praise to Allah. Thank you again, Jonathan. You and your team inspired us more than anything to appreciate our nature.Bless you all.

AllForManKind
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Beautiful...thank you for sharing...amazing!

jinx-two
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I love this very much.. so crystal clear.. hv seen many times.. i wish i have a chance dive here ... love love love

linaabubakr
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This is just spectacular! I never knew places like this exist! Thanks for introducing us to a whole new world!

kitcschmichene
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My sister and her family lived on the Air Force base there in Reykjavik. She said a good day was no wind. Lol. This dive you guys did was so awesome!

tammiea
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this is the best scuba diving video ive ever watched. watched that many times and every times like first time

satashinacumoto
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Really nice job for to see uor world beauty clear Cristal water amazing adventures

boomboomsjeapys
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This is my new dream dive site😂. All of that aside, great video. Can’t wait for more!

layti.official
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Wow na wow!!!super linaw ng tubig.ang ganda ng tanawin sa ilalim.

jerrytaongdagat
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